A fable is a story that teaches a moral lesson. It is a tale that should end with a clear understanding of a moral dilemma or a parable preaching against bad behavior while praising that which is just and good. This story unfortunately will not fit that pattern, as the story of the Cataclysm is not an simple tale of good and evil. Certainly it contains many examples of acts of evil that cause great harm, but these acts grew from and are inextricably linked to the desire to help and nurture a society that ultimately benefitted greatly. The same behavior that brought wealth and success through hard work and wise decisions likewise set a nation on a path towards inevitable ruin and horrific destruction. So perhaps it is more accurate to say that the story of Sobretti Altair and the great Empire that he founded should be viewed more as a tragedy than a cautionary tale. This is the recounting of the horrible event that took place so long ago, and the people and circumstances that led to its fate as recounted to the traveler from another world, Marc Churchill by the Sage and Scholar Lehdze Purina.
The Burning of Sett and the Fall of the Altairan Empire
Nearly five thousand years ago, at the end of the Age of the Third Tower, a disaster nearly destroyed the entire world. This event was not one of nature, but one born from the greed, pride and foolishness of the greatest civilization to have ever existed on the planet. Though few detailed records of the event exist outside the Tower Organization library, evidence of the event are clearly discerned by the devastation that is left on the the scarred continent of Sett, once home to the Great Altairan Empire.
For over ten thousand years, the Altairan Empire was the strongest nation on the planet. Be it technology, culture, or business, there has never been a country that could compete with the Altairans due to their dominance of the Twin Towers of Sett. Of all the known Towers, the Twin Towers were unique in that they were incredibly close together. No one knows why a Tower may appear, but it is easy to say that they are tremendously rare. Two on the same continent is considered abundant. What was even more unique is that the Two Towers are positioned a mere thirty miles apart. Located in the Heart near the center of the continent of Sett, the Twin Towers mark the only place in the world that a person can see two spires at the same time.
One Tower was located in the Trevall plain, while the other was atop the Mount T’dral in the nearby Korvent mountain range. The proximity of the Towers to each other resulted in an area of incredibly high mana density, and consequently, the highest output of mana crystals anywhere on the planet. The Altairans were able to capitalize on this to create a sprawling and powerful Empire that ruled the world for millennia. The capital city, Altair was so large that it spread from one Tower to the other, filling up the Trevall plain and extending to the base of Mount T’dral. Massive terraforming had been done to the mountain range and the the entire mountain had been mined, sculpted and reformed until it had become a giant fortress, surrounding the T’dral Tower with dozens of thousand foot high statues of the previous Emperors.
The city boasted technology never seen before or since, wealth beyond measure where the most powerful and learned individuals all made their home under the protection of the Altairan Royal Guard, a 100,000 man armed force tasked with the safety and security of the Imperial family and the city that they called their birthright. Millions more soldiers filled the ranks of the regular army and the numerous expeditionary forces that protected Sett and patrolled and conquered the other continents under the Altairan banner.
The story of Sett is sadly not one of success and progress however, but of tragedy and greed as all the greatness that had been achieved was destroyed within a single day. The legend is a series of warnings left to those who inhabit the world today of the folly of chasing wealth and power, of how greed and jealousy can lead to ruin, and how power will corrupt even the greatest of achievements. A lesson that has sadly begun to fade from the minds of men.
The Rise
As the largest nation in the known history of the world, one that lasted for millennia, surprisingly little reliable information remains about the founding of the Altairan Empire. What is known must be subject to great scrutiny as few sources exist outside the Tower Academy, and it may be surmised that much editing and revisions have happened over the years. It is said that Altair was a founded as a merchant town by a businessman originally from a coastal port city during the Age of the First Tower. At the time, transportation technology was poor and although the center of the continent had yet to been explored, no one had yet tried to take advantage of the Twin Towers and the excess mana that they produced.
Sobressi Altair had a modest business as a shipping agent and dreamed of finding even greater wealth by farming mana crystals in the Heart of Sett. He financed an expedition to the Two Towers with the intent of starting a permanent outpost there to capitalize on the abundant resources there. The cost of the expedition was beyond his current means however, and the cost of transportation of mana crystals could make the whole venture unprofitable. Indeed this is why none had attempted this feat in the hundreds of years since the discovery of the Two Towers. But Sobressi had a plan. To reduce the cost of transportation, he needed a network of outposts along a route between the Heart and the sea, and he needed roads that could allow for safe and easy access. The cost of this network would be astronomical, however Sobressi possessed a gift of charisma beyond even his own ambition. He spent years raising funds for his project. The proposition he offered was simple to understand, Invest and receive triple the principle within five years of the establishment of the outpost. He tirelessly courted funds from everyone, from every strata of society, nobles, merchants, dock workers and farmers. The promise was the same and the terms were the same, regardless of the amount invested and the status of the one investing. Because of this, he achieved great success from the common people, bewitched by his tales of riches beyond the reach of those of lower blood. Soon he had gathered the funds and began his great endeavor. He hired hundreds of mages to clear the land for roads and outposts, craftsman and laborers to build the roads and building. Soldiers to protect the structures from beasts or bandits. Through grit and determination he managed to break through and establish the first road to the Heart of Sett.
A road was built from the port town of Kali on the western coast of Sett all the way to the Two Towers nestled deep in the heartland of the continent. Nearly thousand miles long, a network of ten outpost towns provided supplies and support, and garrisoned soldiers to protect the supply line. The largest infrastructure project in the history of the world was completed in just over three years. Then came the work of building the mining and crystal farming operations. The city of Altair was established at the base of the Trevall Tower, the fledgling outpost soon hosted hundreds of miners, soldiers and hunters, gradually expanding the area of control, harvesting crystals from beasts, ancient trees and even the ground itself. The results were beyond anyone’s expectations. Crystal yields were considerably higher than estimates and as the bounty made it’s way to the coastal cities word quickly spread. Sobressi Altair had struck it rich.
News of the success of the project brought in more interest and even greater investment in the project. Seizing on the opportunity Sobressi continued to add new investors to the endeavor, keeping the tripling of principle as a key driver, now a set payment after five years of the investment. Sobressi had already earned enough funds to pay back all the initial investors within three years of the original five year period. He put all the new investments into developing the city of Altair and expanding the network, extending the road to the Eastern coast, cleanly bisecting the continent. The outposts along the supply route grew into cities in their own right creating a network of cities all under the control of a businessman rather than a king. The security forces guarding the cities and the roads ballooned and soon constituted an army to rival any kingdom on the continent, a fact shrewdly noticed by many in positions of power. The ever growing flood of mana crystals however continued to draw Sobressi fame and followers at a rapid pace.
It was a mere ten years after the establishment of the “Golden Road”, the name that soon stuck to the over four thousand mile road that traversed the continent, when the first serious threat to the grand endeavor appeared. In spite of, or perhaps emboldened by the copious amount of taxes and bribes the he was receiving, the King of Merik, the ruler of the region that included Kali, the first port city on the Golden Road, made a play to seize control of the western half of the route to Altair. He demanded control of the security forces and the outpost cities or he threatened to bar Sobressi use of the port of Kali. Caught off guard, Sobressi scrambled to resolve the situation and feared his masterpiece would we taken away just as it had reached it’s completion. It might well have turned out that way had it not been for a fortuitous meeting with the of the Lord of Perkana.
Lord Perkana was a minor lord, and Perkana was a small fishing town to the south of Kali. But what he lacked in land and wealth, Perkana more than made up for with his political savvy. Long desiring to raise the status of his house, Perkana spent his time courting the other nobles, placing spies, and putting all resources he had access to into investments that tied his fortunes tightly with those of the other great houses. His early investment into Sobressi’s grand plans had paid off well, and he in turn used that money to further ingratiate himself with other, more powerful nobles.
Before any word of the King’s plan had spread, Perkana’s spies had discovered the details in full and allowed him to craft his strategy. Perkana approached Sobressi immediately after the King’s declaration, when the businessman was in despair, and offered himself as the solution. With Perkana’s support and the other nobles he could gather, they would have the political power to force the King to back off. With the application of timely bribes, enough Nobles sided with Perkana’s faction to depose the King and topple the current structure of power. Almost as quickly as the crisis appeared, it evaporated, seemingly overnight. Rather than facing a revolt of his nobles, the King acquiesced. Sobressi’s title to the land and rights to access the coastal cities was enshrined in to law and he was granted the authority and power of a Noble in the Kingdom. Perkana was also guaranteed a higher rank and more land by the King in the negotiations, cementing his faction as the dominant power. The City of Perkana was also rewarded by Sobressi through an extension of the road and a large amount of business, given at the cost of the City of Kali, who had supported the King in the brief conflict.
The partnership of the houses of Altair and Perkana would last for centuries. Perkana gave Sobressi the political insight and cunning that he lacked, while Perkana finally had access to the resources to realize all his ambitions. Years later a second attempt by the King to take the road, this time in coordination with the King of Lucheria on the Eastern side of the road ended even more spectacularly. Instead of surrounding Altair as they had hoped, Perkana helped Sobressi prepare the security forces in advance. Better armed and financed, the security forces fought back successfully against two separate armies intent on seizing control of key positions along the road. Sobressi gave his full trust in Perkana and was rewarded beyond his expectations. The Five Day War that ensued ended with the total defeat of both Kingdoms, the execution of both Royal families and countless nobles, and the establishment of the Kingdom of Altair, now a single band of control from coast to coast.
Lord Perkana became the first Prime Minister of the new Kingdom was known to be the true political leader. Sobressi of the other hand largely ignored the trapping of his new station and focused on building his business Empire to even higher levels. His adoption of debt financing became the center of his philosophy. His dream to build the greatest nation ever to exist on the planet, and he wanted to realize it in his own lifetime. Using his ability to accelerate growth through debt, he invested heavily in infrastructure and technological innovation. He financed a giant school that would occupy all the land directly around the Trevall Tower, complete with research facilities that drew in the greatest scholars on the planet. He courted other business minded entrepreneurs to expand the business offerings within his Kingdom and backed a new type of Bank that would offer loans to new business at a modest interest rate to foster development. In a controversial move, he even allowed the bank to loan money to commoners, allowed them the opportunity to advance their position by starting their own business. throughout all these changes, Perkana was his unshakable lieutenant, taking care of the politics, advising Sobressi on potential pitfalls, and projecting a stable and strong image that kept potential trouble spots from forming. The tremendous growth that resulted in Sobressi’s debt backed economy created an era of wealth and peace. The seemingly unlimited potential for growth and endless resources all but eradicated poverty, fostered a boom in art and science, and elevated the position and legend of Sobressi until he finally gave in to Perkana’s ceaseless nagging and named himself Emperor. The first Empire of the Tower Ages was formally established, realizing the dream of the Emperor. In the 12,243rd year of the Age of the First Tower, at the age of 329, Emperor Sobressi Altair the First passed away, the undisputed ruler of the entire continent of Sett, the greatest nation on the planet.
The Fall
As inspiring a story as the creation of the Altairan Empire appears to be, the important lessons that have been learned are instead based on how the world changed during the subsequent millennia, culminating in the greatest calamity ever to occur on this planet. Even today, many scholars continue to debate the factors that lead to the unprecedented and tragic fall of The Empire, notably the librarians of The Tower having their own political motivated version, but none can dispute the impact of the single event that ended the once great Empire and it’s effect on the world to this day. That event is known throughout the world by many names, The Great Burn, The Tears of Sett, The Folly of Altair, but it is most commonly referred to as The Calamity.
The greatness of the Empire founded by Sobressi Altair can not be debated. In a single generation, Sobressi grew a small company to the largest and most powerful nation in the entire world. That Empire persisted for over ten millennia, through the entirety of the Second and Third Ages of the Tower. It survived the chaos of the First Tower reset and was instrumental in preparing the world for the Second Reset. But it is beyond question that the acts of the First Tower Organization and it’s complicity with the last Emperor of Altair led directly to the Third Reset, thousands of years before it was predicted to take place.
After the death of the first Emperor, the viability of dynastic succession was far from guaranteed. In fact, many had predicted a giant power struggle or even war, but the meticulous planning of the Perkana lineage showed the genius of the First Prime Minister and the loyalty to his plan maintained by his progeny. While Sobressi availed himself of the age extending ability of the Void mages of the Tower, to the point of remaining in charge of his faculties well beyond his third century, his loyal companion chose instead a normal lifespan and to ensure his legacy in the form of a strict discipline instilled upon his decedents. He passed his position on to his son shortly after the establishment of the Empire, but for nearly eight thousand years, no Emperor of Altair stood without an Perkana at their side. Each candidate trained from birth to be the defenders of the values of the first Emperor and the Empire, with every skill required to maintain and grow the great dynasty, and to be unfailingly loyal to the Imperial line.
The Imperial House in contrast happily settled into a role of cultural guardianship. Rarely ever involved in politics or administration, the House of Altair left the running of the Empire up to the Perkana, instead leading through imagery and sponsorship. Lavishly sponsoring artists and academics, the Empire became not only the economic center of the world, but the leader in trends of culture, art, scientific discovery and philosophy. The Noble class, once the political and military supporters and control on a kingdoms power, evolved in the Empire to a strata of financial and cultural pursuits, powered by the wealth that was derived from their investments and control of the the banking system. They sponsored monumental projects that took place throughout the continent and beyond. Mount T’dral was nearly dug out from the base, reforming the mountain into an impenetrable fortress, extending thousands of feet into the air and deeply into the mountain itself, topped off by the T’dral Tower. The City of Altair grew to a City State of unmatched beauty and architecture an was so rich that it was rumored that the scholars had developed the technology to pull mana crystals from the air itself, and that the giant vaults in the castle fortress contained half the wealth of the entire planet.
The Imperial house and nobility commissioned giant auditoriums to be constructed that offered concerts, theatre, and philosophical debates to the public for free every night. Mana lights lit the streets like daylight and shields kept the streets clean and dry during even the strongest rain or snow storms. Magic crystals even powered a plumbing and sewer system, and magic powered streetcars provided ease of transportation at all hours to any place in the city. New innovations from the research labs of competing companies drove a constant demand for new products, while the wealth created a demand for imported food and recipes, household conveniences, and other trappings of status that filled the heads of the citizens. At the head of this was the Imperial House, always at the forefront of any new trends. For generations of Emperors the progress continued, each doing their duty to grow the Empire and expand both the domination of the land at the Heart of Sett, but also proclaim the unrivaled power of Altair across the planet.
It was in the last generation before the Second Reset that things began to turn away from the unprecedented success of the House of Altair. A number of factors contributed to these changes. First, scholars had predicted another Reset of the Tower was imminent. The first Reset had plunged the world into chaos, but after the Towers returned to their normal state, the people soon forgot about the event. With a warning that another Reset was due however, fear and uncertainty gripped the population. The Empire, whose entire dominance in the world was cemented by its access to mana crystals was particularly vulnerable. Conspiracy theories abounded and factions drove even greater instability, while the Emperor at the time, Clovis Altair III, withdrew for public, creating a power vacuum that emboldened the various factions to push even harder.
The second large shift was an alienation between the houses of Altair and Perkana. In order to prepare for the second reset, the Prime Minister Sanya Perkana had pushed a plan that would stockpile mana crystals in anticipation that production would be halted for a number of years. It was said that the Emperor had opposed the move, and when the reset period turned out to be much shorter than anticipated, He blamed the Prime Minister for the disruption the excess stockpiling of mana crystals had incurred. Doubting the loyalty and wisdom of his Perkana house advisor, the Emperor interpreted many of her moves as an attempt to usurp power, and in a paranoid reaction, had the entire household relocated from the fortress in the T’Dral Tower back to their ancestral home on the Western coastal city, vacating the position of Prime Minister for the first time in the history of the Empire.
The final major factor that contributed to the fall of the Empire was the effect of over reliance in debt financing that Sobressi had never accounted for. While debt had been the fuel that drove growth and innovation, it was entirely reliant on continuous expansion and an ever increasing source of resources. While this had proven to be simple in the early years of the Empire, it became a gradual sloping hill that was increasingly harder to climb with each new year. In the early Empire, new land and resources were limited only by the manpower needed to farm them. But in the fully realized Empire, the production capacity of the Twin Towers had already been fully realized. New land was now only available on other continents, requiring military forces to secure them. As the cost of resources continued to increase, the weight of debt was an ever growing burden,threatening to crush everything that had been built. Bankers and moneylenders become the foundation the new Nobility, needing to constantly come up with new vehicles to gather investments and funds, while mercilessly foreclosing on debtors. The House of Altair was both the largest debtor and the largest lender in the world, and increasingly relied on taxation and reclamation of debt to keep financing the Empire. At the peak of the power of the greatest nation in the history of the world, the hollowing out of its financial power was already well underway, though it would take thousands of years to eat away from the core to reveal its true nature to the world.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Throughout the Age of the Third Tower the Empire began to decline. Without the stabilizing force of the Perkana clan and with the declining fortunes of the Empire as a whole, a growing rot began to spread through all aspects of the great nation. Poverty was rampant, slavery was approved for debt relief and soon became the fastest growing industry in the Empire. First there were sporadic riots, these grew to be a common occurrence in the cities, turning the once admired and disciplined Altairan Royal Guard into a riot control force that was as feared as they were brutal. To maintain the high standards of lifestyle that they had enjoyed for generations, the oldest and most powerful families consolidated more and more of the wealth of the Empire into their own coffers by bleeding all that could be obtained by the common people. Aggressively pushing loans as a way to motivate the lower classes as a way to elevate anyone to the higher levels of society, the truth was that it was a fixed game where only a tiny fraction had any hope of anything but crippling debt. Meanwhile those at the top maintained their position by driving nearly half of the population into indentured servitude or slavery. Soon, nearly all the citizens owed more money than they had assets, while what money and resources that existed in the Empire had been consolidated within the ranks of the few noble families, and of course the House Altair.
To stave off outright revolution, the information networks used by the citizens of the Empire were filled with stories of attacks by other nations and secret infiltration and nefarious plans of other races. The Juujin of Fe’ll in particular were blamed for increases in crime and violence and eventually laws were passed that removed rights and protections for Juujin within the Empire. The Juujin eventually became a slave race on Sett, with any land or property they had owned previously seized and distributed to banks and government officials. For many years, this propaganda worked well and the increasing problems with the economic and social systems were blamed on foreign nations and immigrants by the majority of the citizens of the Empire. By the end of the Age of the Third Tower, the Empire had declined economically, socially, and morally to reflect a rot that permeated every level of society, yet in spite of all that, it still maintained its position as the strongest nation on the world, having collected and consolidating wealth that defied depletion. No other country had an army that could compete at that level, and all the new technology that was introduced by the Tower Organization inspired dependance in the secretive entity whose power and influence now monopolized access to all the Towers on the planet.
The Cataclysm
No one knows exactly when the Towers arrived on the planet. There are few records that remain of first discoveries from various places they were first found, with each discovery retelling a similar story. These stories tell of a discoveries of giant, unnatural objects impossible to build with known methods. Giant Tower-like objects that extends to the sky. Each was identical, a cylindrical Tower with a perfectly formed circle at the base, approximately one hundred and fifty feet in diameter sticking out exactly perpendicular to the ground. A black onyx-like surface that was impossibly hard and invulnerable to any force or magic used on it. Extending both into the ground and the air seemingly infinitely, no top or bottom has ever been identified. No one has ever found any imperfection, marking, door or even variation between the different Towers have been discovered in all the years they have been studied. No one knows who created them or why. What is known is that they have something to do with magic in the world. More specifically, the Towers have some relation to the appearance of mana. Present throughout the world, mana is known to consolidate in living organisms and certain minerals, and that the rate of appearance is directly related to the proximity to the Towers. Whether it was magic users who discovered their powers first or the discovery of the first Towers came first is not known for certain, but the relation suggests that sometime after the Towers appeared, the first mana crystal formed and the first mana cores developed in Humans. We mark the first documented discovery of a Tower as the first year of the Age of the First Tower at 28,101 year ago, this being the 4,761st year of the Age of the Fourth Tower.
Throughout the Age of the Second Tower, scholars from the Tower Organization at Trevall conducted extensive research into the true nature of the Towers. While much of that research was lost and much of what remains has been hidden and remains a mystery, It was a number of those key discoveries that helped the group to flourish, eventually growing into a group known as the Tower Organization, a precursor of the current Tower Academy. Eventually using their knowledge to establish strong relationships with countries all over the world, the Tower Organization established missions at the site of every known Tower. By the beginning of the Age of the Second Tower, only fourteen Towers had been discovered, and it was researchers at the Trevall Tower who uncovered evidence of the remaining two Towers located on the frozen wastelands of the southern polar continent of Sobric.
With the Towers producing seemingly unlimited supplies of mana crystals, the world in the Ages of the Tower have been dominated by these mysterious objects. While all sentient beings develop mana cores that allow them to harness magic forces to varying levels, magic crystals power most technology that is accurate to everyone equally. Trading of mana crystals drive the economies of all nations, and therefore dictate military and political strength of governments and Kingdoms. Thus, when in the 12,523rd year of the Age of the First Tower, the Towers all simultaneously stopped functioning, it turned the world on its head.
At first, few noticed any changes. Watchers of the Towers reported a strange silence that surrounded the area near the Towers. There were stories of large groups of animals that would migrate to the Towers, only to depart after a few days. Then the magic started to fail. Mana cores of magic users would no longer recharge. Once depleted, magic users could no longer channel any mana. Shortly after that, illnesses began to propagate all over the planet. The cause could not be identified. People reported loss of strength and vitality, increased susceptibility to common illnesses and countless other symptoms, minor to major. A global panic gripped the populations and small conflicts erupted between communities that blamed the problems on their neighbors, until finally word began to spread about the cause and the scope of the disappearance of magic from the world. Scholars at the Tower Organization had theorized, then later confirmed that the cause was that every Tower on the planet had ceased to produce mana.
Understanding the cause and developing a solution turned out to be very different things. Every possible resource was thrown at the Tower Organization to devise a way to repair the Towers, but the knowledge to do so was simply far beyond what was possible at the time. Within months, the yield of mana crystal farms had dropped to zero and young beasts that were captured no longer had crystals at all. It was expected that mana cores would no longer form and new magic users could no longer awaken. A medication was developed from mana crystals that could alleviate the symptoms of what is now known as mana Deprivation Sickness, but with the future supplies of mana crystals in question, the medicine was prohibitively expensive. In the months and years to come, many small nations fell and countless lives were lost to conflicts, illnesses and related causes as the world came to grips with a future without magic. Then, exactly seven years to the day after the disappearance of mana, the Towers suddenly turned back on.
The event, now referred to as the First Tower Reset marked the end of the Age of the First Tower. In our recorded history, there have now been three such resets. The exact cause and nature of these events remains a mystery, but thanks to the Tower Organization a few things are now understood, though not all of those discoveries were made public. The arrival of a rest can be somewhat accurately predicted. As early as fifty years before the Second Tower Reset, the Tower Organization accurately predicted another reset was imminent. The length of the Reset is also predictable to a degree. Just prior to the Second Reset, the Organization predicted that the length of time the Towers would be dormant would be considerably shorter than the first one. Indeed, the Second reset only lasted two years and 67 days.
With this knowledge, the Altairan Empire was prepared when the Second Tower Reset arrived. With over a billion mana crystals reserved in locations across the Empire, technology was developed that helped keep magic users topped up with enough mana to use magic. Mana generators and mana potions developed at that time are still used to this day to quickly recharge mana and vitality. While the Empire initially shared this technology freely with other nations, over time relations between the Empire and surrounding countries began to sour, and eventually The Tower Organization missions were took on the responsible for trading products and technology for the Altairans in exchange for the property and diplomatic status needed to maintain access to the network of Towers on other continents. Without the guidance of House Perkana, the Imperial House delegated more and more power to the leadership of the Tower Organization, a faction that had become obsessed with the dream of completely controlling the power of the Towers.
As the economic and political fortunes of the Empire waned throughout the age of the Third Tower, the Tower Organization grew stronger and more influential. Scholars became priests and leaders became apostles. At the head, the Emperor became like a deity of this new religion. Finally all the factors came to a tragic confluence with the last Emperor of Altair, Sorbressi Altair XXVII. Ironically, the great achievement of Sobressi was completely reversed by his namesake, ensuring his name would never be revered for his brilliance and achievements, but rather cursed for all time as the murderer of hundreds of millions of his own people.
This Sobressi was rather young, a mere 87 years old. Life extension was the norm for the Imperial line, with nearly every ruler who did not die to familial assassination living beyond three hundred. He was obsessed with the fear that the Empire would fall. Advisors had long surmised that the debt based economy was doomed to fail, and that nothing could remedy it. The Empire was simply too large and further expansion was not feasible, and without growth, the engine powering the Empire’s economy with slow and eventually die. Even conquering new lands would gain no great benefit as the Empire now exported so much that taking over new land would simply reduce potential income. New slaves, new mines, new products simply wouldn’t help enough when the problem was lack of income and new customers. As things were, the Empire would stagnate and eventually, fail. It was with this background that Emperor Sobressi devised a plan to find a way to ensure the future of the Empire for all time and pushed the Tower Organization to find a way to Use the Towers to grant him the power to rule as a true God.
A young Apostle of the Tower Organization came up with a daring plan. It was widely believed that the Towers were not, in fact separate objects, but were actually a single entity. Not only that, but they were not even Towers at all, but it was actually a multi-dimensional existence that merely took on the appearance of many separate Towers through our perspective as beings with limited ability to perceive higher dimensional objects. They had no top, or bottom, or beginning or end, or even an inside or outside. The Apostle, whose name has been lost to history, postulated that while nothing in this reality could physically effect the Towers, it might be possible for them to effect each other. If such a thing was possible, then by finding a way to join two separate Towers it might force them to all merge back into one object. He devised a grand plan to build a tether made of pure mana crystals over thirty miles long to create a bridge between the Two Towers and convinced the Emperor that if he stood at the center of such bridge he could merge with them and would gain control over the Tower that was All Towers. The Altair Empire would be then have sole possession of the only Tower in the world, one that had a higher level of magic that would be at the exclusive control of the Emperor.
Despite the seeming madness of the plan, the Emperor fully embraced the plan. He envisioned a world where everything, including all magic would be completely under his control. For ten years construction of the Twin Tower Bridge continued night and day. Billions of mana crystals were used to construct the bridge effectively bankrupting the Empire. Only through the brutal use of the military and the cruel expansion of slavery was the project completed. Millions of slaves, not only captives from other countries but many drawn from the Empire’s own citizens, perished in order to finish the grand endeavor. Even the bankers and elites who had profited through the history of the Empire were sacrificed at the end as all their assets were seized and their families sent to join the other slaves building the bridge. Finally, in the year 3,594 of the Age of the Third Tower, The Great Emperor Sobretti XXVII performed the ritual that would forever change the face of the world. Joining the last link that complete the father between the Twin Towers, The Emperor vanished in a blinding light, as did the entirely of the continent of Sett. The Calamity arrived that would wipe the Great Altairan Empire from the planet and leave the entire continent of Sett a lifeless desert had arrived.
The Aftermath
There was no witness of that last moment of the Empire lived to tell the tale. Nearly every citizen of the Empire died instantly as the entire continent burned in an instant. Not by fire, but by combustion of mana itself. All the grand buildings and sculptures, the cities, the lakes, the mountains, The Golden Road, even the people, every particle exploded at the same moment. By the time expeditions from other continents finally made their way to Sett to survey the aftermath, all that they found was a desert of sand. Later, a few pockets of land were found to have survived The Calamity at the far edges of the continent. Eventually a few survivors were found, although they were so far from the destruction that they had no idea what had transpired, only that a holy light had covered the whole land. It appears that the devastation had carved a perfect circle that covered the entire continent, leaving only a few islands off the western shores untouched. As for the rest of the world, the largest change was the one of the most shocking. The Towers all disappeared. Leaving only a ring shaped void in each location, it was as if there had never been anything there at all. Each site lacked any mark of human intervention, even showing plants and grass that might have been there when the Towers first appeared. This was a Tower reset of unprecedented impact. Not only was the mana gone, but the Towers themselves had vanished in an instant.
At first, the Tower Organizations refused to say anything, but after a number of rulers in the host nations began to apply pressure more of the story began to leak out. Eventually a conference was convened gathering investigators from around the world who presented the evidence of the Calamity and the possible cause. Without the Tower leadership and the power of the Empire to back them, nearly all the remnants of the Tower Organization soon fell into disarray. Many of their leaders were imprisoned and their membership scattered. Sobric, an icy oasis built primarily with the support of the Empire was ostensibly under the control of the Tower Organization and many members tried to make the dangerous journey to find a sympathetic new home. Meanwhile, the conference spent many years piecing together the truth behind the Cataclysm and attempted to judge the damage that was caused.
For over a hundred years, the spaces once occupied by the Towers remained empty. None would dare even enter the land for fear of a curse. Magic gradually faded from the land again and generations of children were born who would never develop mana cores or have an awakening. Magic based technology was discarded and the stories of the Empire became a moral lesson against greed, pride and the danger of progress faster than the wisdom of the people. In order to reduce the risks of such rapid growth, most nations outlawed not only all interest bearing loans but debt slavery and indentured servitude as well.
Without the technology granted by mana crystals and mages, the technological level of the world suffered a giant step back. Reliance on pure human power became the most acceptable method for accomplishing tasks. The rise of the Guild was due in part by the desire to keep the corruption seen in the Empire from taking control again. With it’s focus on transparent, contract based interactions and it’s co-operative form of self governance rather than the hierarchical system employed by the companies of the Empire, the Guild saw explosive growth in the years following the Third Tower Reset.
The Tower however faced great challenges, though it still managed to survive through those troubling years. Now under the watchful eyes of their host nations,the Tower Organizations were forced to make many changes. Initially all but disbanded, cut off from their support and each other, most of the Tower Organizations barely maintained any operations at all. Frequently called into answer inquiries by rulers and governments, or to tasked with mundane jobs such as dealing with the disposal of useless magic based technologies, they resorted to hoarding what few mana crystals they could gather. At times it appeared that the once powerful organization would fade away into memories along with the stories of magic and Mages. But their fortunes would change with the return of the Towers.
Over a hundred years after the Cataclysm, one hundred and six years, and two hundred and five days to be precise, the Towers abruptly returned. As abruptly as they had vanished, they all reappeared in the exact same spot they had previously occupied for millennia. The returns were so abrupt that in at least one report, a child who had been playing in the vacant space was reported missing when the Tower reoccupied the location, leaving no trace of the young boy behind. Again, the world’s future was in upheaval. The Newly reformed Tower Organization quickly arrived to survey the sites, quickly affirming that not only had the Towers returned, but that mana was once again detected. No other anomalies could be found and the Age of the Fourth Tower was confirmed. But this was a different world, far more skeptical of the value of magic and the Towers. At first several nations outright banned the use of magic and the collection of mana stones. Fear and uncertainty amongst the people created a stigma against even the subject of magic. Soon enough however mana cores began forming and children began awakening. The trend could not be reversed. In order to foster trust and gain back the influence that had been lost, the Tower Organization created a new charted, forsaking their focus on research and dedicating themselves to the education of ethical use of magic. Apostles and priests gave way to Headmasters and teachers. Soon, as the populations slowly came to recall the conveniences and power that came from magic, anti-magic laws and social stigmas began to fade away.
Things would not return to the old ways however. While the population as a whole welcomed back magic and mana, a great deal of distrust and animosity towards the failings of the Altairan Empire remained. The prohibition on debt financing and distrust in growth focused investment remains in most countries to this day. Notably every nation on the continents of Tehric and Fe’ll are continue these bans with harsh penalties for disobedience. As a result, progress has slowed. Many of the great technologies are now lost to time and changes and innovation are now rare and approached with distrust. Nations monitor the farming and trade of mana stones closely to ensure that no one can amass too much power and influence.
Diplomacy has changed in these years, with nations becoming more isolated and trade more regulated and difficult. An extreme example of this are the Elves of Krrt Anatra. Following the Cataclysm the Elven Kings isolated the entire continent, declaring any landing by a non Elf on Krrt Anatra to be heresy warranting immediate death. Few entreaties have been possible over the years, with only the Guild having the ability to maintain any presence on the continent, these missions of course having to be entirely comprised of Elven Guild members to be allowed to operate.
As for the Holy Kingdom of Sobric T’al Jeridon on the frozen southern continent of Sobric, similarly little is known. Previously an outpost of the Empire manned by the clergy from the Tower Organization, Sobric became the gathering point for many of the diaspora left behind when the Empire disappeared. Closing their borders for over a thousand years to all but the faithful, little is known about this small but technologically advanced nation. In the year 1,446 the Holy Kingdom sent ambassadors around the world to declare the sovereignty over the continent of Sobric and to establish diplomatic ties. Those entreaties were initially met with resistance and were even rebuffed in a few cases, however the appearance of a giant fleet of intimidating magic powered warships forced the issue and the nations of the world had to acknowledge the power of this new upstart nation. Clearly many of the lost secrets of the Empire have survived in Sobric instilling fear and distrust from the other nations of the world.
The world of today has in many ways healed from the damage done by The Calamity, though it has been irrevocably changed in countless ways. The entire continent of Sett remains a desert, populated only by small bands of wandering nomads who follow storm systems that cross the continent providing water and brief glimpses of life to sustain them. Many people continue to look at magic and the use of mana crystals with suspicion, and technological innovation has slowed to a crawl compared to the leaps and bounds experienced during the time of the Empire. It is without question that hundreds of millions of lives benefitted greatly from the growth and progress started by philosophies of Sobretti Altair, but it is likewise true that hundreds of millions suffered and ultimately died as a result of the end of that path. What remains is not only the gigantic scar on the planet, but also a wound in the soul of the people who still inhabit this world, one that may take untold millennia more to heal.